Last Resort Workout

On Friday, when I asked for guest posts, I was lucky enough to have some followers send posts over within minutes! The last thing someone wants to think about after a death is what to blog about. Therefore, over the next four days, you’ll see a mixture of posts such as the ones I wrote yesterday and Saturday, along with guest posts.

Today’s guest post comes from Katie, the creator and blogger of MomsLittleRunningBuddy.com, fitness junkie, former fitness competitor, runner, triathlete and working mom in the healthcare industry.  She’s been blogging since 2009 and has a passion for sharing her experiences and tips for staying fit and healthy while trying to maintain a balance. 

She carries that love of fitness into her extracurricular activities, which include sitting on the planning committee for Celebrate Fitness in St. Louis and motivating anyone who needs it. 

Her motto is “Make it Worth it” and wants everyone to know that it is possible to make time for maintaining a healthy lifestyle.  Even if its 10 minutes to cook, make sure that 10 minutes is focused and purposeful.

I’m pretty sure I have some attention issues. There are days where I feel like that little kid in the outfield of a little league game who cannot pay attention to anything. It is on those days that I find it hard to have a consistent workout. Running for an hour seems insane and focusing long and hard enough to do a good weight workout is out of the question. So what do I do? I turn my gym into a big obstacle course of sorts.

This workout can take as long or as little time as you want but the goal is to burn calories. Remember, this workout is best used when you didn’t really even want to workout to begin with. Ready?! Let’s go:

Let’s start with a small cardio circuit:

1. Walk for 5 min

2. Jog/Run for 5 min (for me this is about a 6.2 or so)

3. SWITCH…Elliptical for 10 min (every minute increase your resistance)

4. SWITCH…Stair Machine (Every 2 minutes increase your speed)

Wow, that was a quick 30 min huh?! Now we should do some resistance training. Compound movements are the name of the game here. I will not lie; these are a combo of some of my own and favorites from the Nike Training Club App. Repeat these three moves three times resting only for a few seconds between.

1. Pushup/Chaturanga – Starting on the ground in the push up position, push up, then move arms so that your upper arm is sitting right by your rib cage, lower down to just above the floor and hold it for 2 or 3 seconds. Then raise back up, replace your arms in pushup position, execute a pushup and repeat. (I can do about 10 of these and then I’m shaking).

2. Alternating Forward Lunge with Arm Curl – You’ll need some weights for this. I use 10 lb dumbbells. Step one foot out, and drive down through your front heel, bring leg back in and curl the dumbbells up to your shoulders. (15/20 each side)

3. Sumo Squat with Lateral Raises – You’ll need some weights for this. With feet wide and toes out, squat and bring the dumbbells down towards the floor in front of you. Come up and lift your arms out to the side parallel to the ground. (15)

Then it is back to the cardio circuit for a final 20 minutes:

1. Run for 10 minutes. I like to try to be my best 1 mile time here and then some, so in other words…RUN FAST!

2. SWITCH…Elliptical. Cool down by doing a nice easy 10 minutes at your own pace.

Ok, that’s it. Pretty crazy huh? I usually leave the gym on nights where I do this working feeling like I really accomplished something. I have burned some calories and probably got a little extra energy back after a VERY long day. I hope that you will feel the same. Go ahead; try it. Let me know what you think.